“I still lack the words:” Oleksandra Matviichuk reflects on two years of living under Russia’s war on Ukraine

Ukrainian human rights defender Oleksandra Matviichuk, who received the Right Livelihood Award in 2022, emerged as a powerful voice for Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s full-scale invasion. The war, which began on February 24, 2022, upended life for the country’s over 40 million citizens. Two years into the aggression, Matviichuk spoke to Right Livelihood about the challenges of living under war and her hopes for the country.

Right Livelihood: How have two years of war changed your life?

Oleksandra Matviichuk: I still lack the words to describe what it means to live during a full-scale war. War shatters all notions of what normal life is. The ability to go to work, send children to school, meet friends, have family dinners on weekends – everything suddenly becomes unattainable. Living during a full-scale war means losing complete control over your life because you never know when your city will be attacked again by Russian rockets. Living during a full-scale war means being in constant anxiety for your loved ones, because there is no safe place for anyone, even if you are far from the front line.

However, this dramatic time gives us the opportunity to show our best qualities and become a better version of ourselves. Ordinary people do extraordinary things and risk their own lives to save others they have never met before. And right now, we keenly feel what it means to be human.

RL: How have your priorities or methods of work evolved over the last two years in response to the ongoing war?

OM: For many years I have been applying the law to defend people and human dignity. Now I am in a situation where the law does not work.

Russian troops are destroying residential buildings, churches, museums, schools, and hospitals. They are shooting at the evacuation corridors. They are torturing people in filtration camps. They are forcibly taking Ukrainian children to Russia. They ban the Ukrainian language and culture. They are abducting, robbing, raping and killing in the occupied territories. The entire UN architecture of international organisations and treaties cannot stop it.

Because for now, the law does not work. Although, I trust that it is temporary. We are now recording war crimes so that, sooner or later, all Russians who have committed these crimes, as well as Putin and the rest of the senior political leadership and military high command, can be brought to justice. We must ensure justice for all, regardless of who the victims are, their social position, the type and level of cruelty they’ve endured, and if the international organisations or media are interested in their case. Because the life of each person matters.

RL: Could you share a powerful story of resilience or hope that you’ve encountered amidst the adversity of the past two years?

OM: This story was told to me by my friend. In her occupied city, Russians forced Ukrainian children in school to sing the Russian anthem every day. And there were children who didn’t sing. When the teacher asked one of these children, the child replied that they didn’t know the words of the Russian anthem. The child was strictly ordered to memorise the words. The next day, when they were called to the board and ordered to sing in front of the whole class, the child began to sing. But not the Russian anthem, but the Ukrainian anthem ‘Ukraine has not yet died’.

What this story teaches me: If Ukrainian children have the strength to resist Russian occupation, then we as adults definitely have no right to fold our hands.

RL: Looking forward, what are your main concerns and hopes for the region?

OM: I don’t know how historians in the future will call this historical period. But we happen to live in rather challenging times. The world order, based on the UN Charter and international law, is collapsing before our eyes. The international peace and security system established after the Second World War provided unjustified indulgences for certain countries. It did not cope well with global challenges before, but now it is stalling and reproducing ritualistic movements. The work of the Security Council is paralysed. We have entered a period of turbulence, and now fires will occur more and more frequently in different parts of the world because the international wiring is faulty and sparks everywhere.

The problem is not only that the freedom space in authoritarian countries has narrowed to the size of a prison cell. The problem is that even in developed democracies, forces calling into question the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are gaining weight.

There are reasons for this. The coming generations replaced those ones that survived the Second World War. They have inherited democracy from their parents. They began to take rights and freedoms for granted. They have become consumers of values. They perceive freedom as choosing between cheeses in the supermarket. Therefore, they are ready to exchange freedom for economic benefits, promises of security or personal comfort.

Yet, the truth is that freedom is very fragile. Human rights are not attained once and forever. We make our own choices every day.

RL: What specific actions can individuals take to effectively support the fight against Russia’s aggression?

OM: Immediately after the invasion, international organisations evacuated their personnel, and so it was ordinary people who supported those in the combat zone; who took people out of ruined cities, who helped to survive under artillery fire; who rescued people trapped under the rubble of residential buildings; who broke through the encirclement to deliver humanitarian aid.

And then it became obvious that ordinary people fighting for their freedom are stronger than the second-largest army of the world. That the engagement of millions of people in various countries can change world history faster than the UN intervention.

People in Ukraine survived also because of you. When ordinary people in different countries supported us. Someone is collecting donations, someone is writing about what is happening, someone is holding rallies, demanding their government supply Ukraine with weapons, someone has closed their own business in Russia, because freedom is worth it.

Be that someone. Support our struggle. Make our voice tangible. Take an active position, not just a pose. There are many things that have no limitations on state borders. Freedom is one of them. As well as human solidarity.

RL: How can the war inform future human rights activism and international response to conflict?

OM: This is not just a war between two states. This is the war between two systems – authoritarianism and democracy. Russia wants to convince the entire world that democracy, human rights and the rule of law are fake values. Because they do not protect anyone in the war. Russia wants to convince that a state with a powerful military potential and nuclear weapons can break the world order, dictate its rules to the international community and even forcibly change internationally recognised borders.

If Russia succeeds, it will encourage authoritarian leaders in various parts of the world to do the same. The international system of peace and security does not work anymore. Democratic governments will be forced to invest money not in education, health care, culture or business development, not in solving global problems such as climate change or social inequality, but in weapons. We will witness an increase in the number of nuclear states, the emergence of robotic armies and new weapons of mass destruction. If Russia succeeds and this scenario comes true, we will find ourselves in a world that will be dangerous for everyone without exception.

We live in a very interconnected world. Only the spread of freedom makes our world safer.